April 28th, 2016

Ka’ek Al-Eid Al-Maleh is a specialty of Aleppo, salty ring cookies seasoned with “mahlab, anise, fennel, and cumin”. This Ka’ek is my favorite, the smell and the taste of it always bring me back to all the beautiful moments in Aleppo. Try it and you will be addicted to it.

14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. Knead with your hand until a smooth mass of dough is formed, do not over knead. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set the dough aside at room temperature for 30 minutes.

21. After 30 minutes, bring the dough.

22. Take a piece of the dough, and form it into ball, the ball equals to 4 grams.

23, 24. Take the ball, and form it into rope equals to 2 1/2 inches (6 cm) long.

25, 26, 27. Form the rope into a ring joining the two ends and pressing to seal. Repeat the steps with all the amount of dough.

29, 30, 31, 32. Place the rings on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

33, 34, 35, 36. Heat the oven at 355°F (180 °C) (I’ve done this step of heating oven 15 minutes before placing the baking sheet in oven to bake). Place the baking sheet in the oven (rack position the second from bottom), and bake for 7 – 8 minutes or until golden in color on bottom and top.

Knead with your hand until a smooth mass of dough is formed, do not over knead. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set the dough aside at room temperature for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, bring the dough.

Take a piece of the dough, and form it into ball, the ball equals to 4 grams.

Take the ball, and form it into rope equals to 2 1/2 inches (6 cm) long.

Form the rope into a ring joining the two ends and pressing to seal. Repeat the steps with all the amount of dough.

Place the rings on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Heat the oven at 355°F (180 °C) (I’ve done this step of heating oven 15 minutes before placing the baking sheet in oven to bake). Place the baking sheet in the oven (rack position the second from bottom), and bake for 7 – 8 minutes or until golden in color on bottom and top.

Let baked rings stand 2 minutes on baking sheet.

After 2 minutes, remove rings to cooling rack. Cool completely.

Store Ka’ek in air tight container at room temperature.

Serve Ka’ek Al-Eid Al-Maleh with tea. And as an option, serve it with jebneh such as jebneh bida bladiyeh or jebneh mshallaleh (string cheese).

I like to make Ka’ek Al-Eid Al-Maleh small in size as explained in the recipe. But you can make the Ka’ek larger in size. Make each ball equals to 9 grams and and form it into a rope equals to 5 inches (13 cm) long, then form the rope into a ring joining the two ends and pressing to seal. This size is similar to the size of Ka’ek sold in Aleppo shops, look here.

My oven is gas oven and it has two functions: The oven upper burner “broiler”. The oven bottom burner “bake function”. I can turn on both of them together, and I can turn off one of them and keep the other on.
As you notice in the pictures (33, 34, 35, 36), I baked Ka’ek with both lower burner “bake function” and upper burner “broiler” are turned on. If your oven is different than mine and both functions can’t work together, so adjust the heat as suggested 355°F (180 °C), bake Ka’ek till golden in color on bottom, then you may need to turn the top burner at the end to turn them to golden in color on top. At the end make sure that the Ka’ek on bottom and top is golden in color.

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Hi Dimah,
Thanks so much for sharing your blog. My heart goes out to Aleppo, to Syria and all the people there. I’m Lebanese and has been in the states for long er than 32 years however the love of that part of the world is everlasting no matter how long you live far. May God grant peace and prosperity to our torn lands and chattered people.
Love,
Majda